Reply #18: Ah, Pat I know then.

[noamnety]

Friends, yes, but ones who respectfully disagree about whether someone has the right to criticize DU.

The tone of a forum is set by the way that it's moderated. I'm here, so obviously I see some value here. But I do criticize it at times, when it's deserved. Without calling out particular threads here, Skinner knows there are things on DU that I feel are sexist and destructive. I've been telling him that for a while, and I know he's not happy with the reaction from Cindy, but I do hope he will begin to connect the dots, because other women also have been trying to explain this to him for a while now. This is a more visible result than what he's used to, but it's not the first time a woman has been silenced in one form or another because of the tone of DU.

And I have some other complaints related to race issues, and in the way DU puts party above ethics as part of their mission statement.

I think it's worse, morally, to not speak out against such things - even if it means speaking out against a group that has helped you in the past - if that group is now acting in a way that is harmful. So I'm not only supporting her "right" to talk trash about DU, I'm saying it's important that she SHOULD speak out against any group that is complicit in the war, against any group that is complicit in sexism and any group that is complicit in racism, or any other form of oppression. How could it be otherwise?